Mano autobiografija : rašiau Sibire, Taišeto apyl. 1953-1956 metais

LTSkapiškėno Juozo Markevičiaus (1887-1974) atsiminimai – tai nuoseklus, romus ir labai įspūdingas pasakojimas apie lietuvišką kaimą XIX a. pabaigoje, XX a. pradžioje, tarnybą caro kariuomenėje, gyvenimą Vokietijos belaisvių stovykloje Pirmo pasaulinio karo metu, darbą Nepriklausomos Lietuvos miškų tarnyboje, sovietinę ir vokiečių okupaciją. Pasakojimas labai sklandus – be jokių pasikartojimų, minties šuolių, ekskursų į šalį. Sunku patikėti, kad rašė žmogus baigęs tik rusišką pradžios mokyklą, kurioje net nebuvo mokoma rašyti lietuviškai. Dar nuostabiau, kad atsiminimus nuo pirmos iki paskutinės eilutės parašė kalėdamas Taišeto lageryje. 2010-2011 metais vykusiame Nacionalinės biografų konkurse J. Markevičiaus atsiminimams buvo paskirta viena pirmųjų vietų. [Anotacija knygoje]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Istoriniai dokumentai; Politiniai kaliniai; Lietuviai tremtiniai; Sibiras; Tremtis; Atsiminimai; Historical documents; Political prisoners; Lithuanian deportees; Siberia; Memoirs.

ENIn 2010-2011 the "Versmė" publishing house ran a project conceived by the sociologists Irena Šutinienė and Dr. Laima Žilinskienė - a biography contest called "Our destinies in the twists and turns of history". The memoirs of Juozas Markevičius (1887-1974), brought into the running by the author's son Vidmantas Markevičius, won one of the top three prizes. It is hard to believe that the memoirs were written whilst Markevičius was imprisoned at a labour camp, from the very first to the last line. On August 11, 1950, the war tribunal of the Baltic Military District sentenced J. Markevičius to 25 years at a labour camp for belonging to an anti-Soviet underground reserve organization, acting as the organizational secretary. This was the term given to the network of supporters of partisans from the Algimantas district's Šarūnas team that operated around the towns of Kupiškis and Skapiškis. The convicted served his sentence at the Tayshet Gulag in Irkutsk Oblast. In the first year he was ordered to fell forests, while in 1953, when following Stalin's death the regime became somewhat less strict, he was given a less exhausting task - he was now responsible for keeping the gulag boiler-house furnace burning during the night, so that there would be enough hot boiled water in the water tanks for the inmates for breakfast. Spending long hours completely alone and unobserved by anyone, which was very important so as to ensure that he would not be seen by any supervisors or whistle-blowers, Markevičius commenced writing his memoirs. And this was probably not brought on by a surge of creative inspiration, or an unstoppable desire to write. On the contrary, the writing of his memoirs most likely had the effect of a kind of psychotherapeutic session, brightening life behind the barbed wire fences, and helping him cope with the longing for his close ones and his homeland.When he was released in 1956, he returned to his birthplace of Skapiškis and managed to bring with him his notebooks full of memories. At home again, he never wrote another line. The need to add or correct anything he had already written probably didn't exist, nor did he want to extend his memoirs started whilst at the gulag. What is most likely is that had J. Markevičius never been sent to the gulag, his life story would have most probably never seen the light of day, like so many others. The external appearance of the memoirs alone leaves a significant impression: 629 extraordinarily neatly hand-written notebook pages. The fairly extensive text contains only a handful of crossed-out words, and no word is illegible. There are no corrections, inserts or squiggles. And all of this is the work of a man who only completed three grades of Russian primary school. Generally speaking, his ability to neatly perform written tasks played a fairly significant role in J. Markevičius' life. [...]. [From the publication]